Did you enjoy the national show

[Cactipod]

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, this was my first national show. Everyone did a fantastic job organising it!
I ended out having several crates of plants to take home, which is so exciting. I think we bought 43 plants in total, even my partner started buying some!

The show plants were incredible, well done to all of you. Ive had a fantastic weekend and really hope to be at the next national show.

Ellie

[Mike P]

Excellent day on a lot of fronts but why is the lighting at the venue so very poor? There were one or two lights which had failed but overall it is quite dim in that space. Cleaning the roof lights might help a little but for me the light level is not up to a major show. Lack of ventilation is also an issue but I suppose for security reasons the doors need to be kept closed?
Nice selection of nurseries and plants although not not quite enough Opuntias on sale - of course with some notable exceptions. I particularly enjoyed the nursery run by the chap in the yellow T shirt (whose enthusiasm was awesome) which had some very interesting plants at reasonable prices and the chap next to him with the interesting Gymnos. who took the trouble to copy all the collection data onto the bags he placed each plant in - very dedicated.
Too many excellent plants to choose a favourite from but I did like the Haworthiopsis display a lot.

[Stuart]

The 'chap in the yellow t-shirt' is Rudy from Czech Republic - one of the best - don't miss him at ELK, worth going just for his plants and enthusiasm.
Stuart

[gerald]

Rudy is a legend

Great show, really enjoyed it, could not be better IMO.

The standard of entries was very high. I'm amazed that people can grow rare, difficult plants - for many decades - to such high standards year on year. Well done to all the prize winners, and of course the organisers.

[purzo]

It was also my first time to the National so I didn't really know what to expect but let's just say I definitely wasn't disappointed. The sales were fantastic and filling 2 trays in my wife's "tomato" bags with plant purchases and a trip back to the car in between took me almost 3 hours . btw, apologies to everybody I side-swiped with the bags

After the all that buying it was time to look at the exhibits which without exception were of an extraordinarily high standard. It made me feel that, by comparison, the largest of my own plants are just mere seedlings and, guessing how old most of those plants must be, if I started now I'd probably have already received a telegram from the future king before I could grow a show-worthy plant...oh well.

Describing my day out to my wife when I got home made her decided she wants to go next time, but I suspect that is to see if she can rehome a chicken rather than look at plants! The venue was very interesting, yes the lighting could be better as others mentioned but for me the uneven floor was probably a bigger issue. I imagine it can't be easy to find a suitable venue available at the right time and the right price so I think that overall Wood Green is most likely as good an option as any.

Thanks to all the society officials and volunteers who made the show such an exciting event, and also to the nurserymen and exhibitors for going to what must be considerable effort in getting their plants there in the first place.

Looking forward to 2020

[Ian Thwaites]

I am so pleased that everyone enjoyed the show. It really makes all the hard work worth while. From a personal perspective I also enjoyed the event and think it was one of the best yet. Who would have thought that the special class for plant and pot to be judges on artistic merit would have been so popular and what wonderful artistic interpretations we were treated to. Believe it or not it will not be long before we start thinking about the next one.

[Apicra]

Certainly an enjoyable but exhausting day & a half. I enjoyed judging the Mesemb classes and must praise the unexpectedly high quality of the Conophytum classes. Normally these plants are still resting in the summer heat during August, but I understand some manipulation of their temp/lighting by one specialist exhibitor brought their season forward to stunning effect. I hope they are still looking as good for the MSG Event in Oct.

The show was closed half-an hour early and that extra time was certainly needed to clear the hall before 7:000 p.m. It was good to see entrants helping other "rivals" carry plants out and demonstrates that we were working for a common cause, rather than individual glory. That said, congratulations to the top points winners, Colin Parker from Southend Branch, Richard Bleay from Harrow and Dr Gillian Evison from Oxford.

The show could of course be improved and I agree with Terry S. that, with so many exhibits to admire in a short time, easily readable labels are needed. I've received only positive comments after using extra paper labels next to my entries and this is a way forward to make the show more educational. They are easily printed from a computer word-processor and give space for extra information e.g. origin of the plant and how long cultivated.

It was probably the biggest ever c&s show anywhere(?), but of course it is difficult to know what is going on in the rest of the world to justify that statement. The plant sales were excellent with continental nurseries offering an extraordinary range of plants, even Welwitchia seedlings (albeit tiny ones). It will be sad if Brexit makes the next event less good.

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble

[Jim_Mercer]

The show could of course be improved and I agree with Terry S. that, with so many exhibits to admire in a short time, easily readable labels are needed.

Perhaps we could copy the Alpine society, amongst their rules....

18. Labelling. Plants should be clearly named and the label should be horizontal. It may indicate if the plant has been grown from seed, the parentage or country of origin, but nothing else. Errors in naming will not disqualify.

There are little metal clips available so that "ordinary" plant labels can be held horizontally.

http://www.theessentialscompany.co.uk/shop/label-pins/

[topsy]

Hi Derek,

The Mesemb Event is 24th September, hope the date is still OK for you to judge the 10 competitive classes.

Let's hope that we have some wonderful examples for you to judge, I think that this relatively poor summer weather and the cold nights has prodded the conos into growth somewhat earlier. The Mitrophyllums, Monilarias and the like seem to be waking up earlier than they sometimes do.

Good judging, BTW.

Suzanne

[Amanda W]

This was my first National and I was very impressed.
I went more to look at the display of plants, rather than buying and was particularly impressed with the layout of the displays. I enjoyed looking for example at all the different genus within one family; comparing the plants and wondering about evolutionary changes. It made it very educational and I learnt lots.

The quality of exhibits was amazing; showing just how hard mere amateurs work to maintain some incredible plants.

The labelling was disappointing - many labels were not visible, and there were mistakes in nomenclature which really shouldn't be there.

All in all a fantastic show and looking forward to the next one :-)